Wireless networks have evolved from base stations having a single antenna to systems having multiple antennas, referred to as multiple input output (MIMO). A base station and/or user device may have MIMO capabilities. Recently, base stations have further evolved to support massive MIMO. A massive MIMO base station has a large number antennas (often 100 or more).
A MIMO or M-MIMO base station may use beam forming to transmit signals on the downlink to one or more user devices. In general, beam forming is shaping of an antenna beam by multiple transmit antennas in the direction of a target receiver. Beam forming can increase the signal strength at the receiver proportional to the number of transmit antennas. One benefit of massive MIMO is the increased gain that can be achieved through the use of a large number of antennas to transmit a beam formed signal on the downlink.
The disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the reference number.